Most of these come from the Western tradition, so they carry a Western accent even when they turn up elsewhere. Where a term means something different in another system, it says so. This is the same glossary that powers the tappable definitions inside your readings — and the reference pages below it carry every sign, star, nakshatra and number.
- Natalbirth chartCross-system
- A chart calculated for your birth moment. A natal reading interprets that starting pattern, with any current timing described separately.
- PlacementCross-system
- Where a body, point or symbolic factor sits in a particular system’s calculated chart. Its meaning depends on the system and the relationships around it.
- EphemerisCross-system
- A source of astronomical positions for dates and times. The app uses calculated positions as inputs; Bob interprets them.
- Rulershipplanetary rulerCross-system
- A tradition’s assignment of a planet to a zodiac sign. A house ruler is the planet assigned to the sign at that house’s start; Western and Vedic use their own conventions.
- MahadashaVedic term
- A major planetary period in Vedic Vimshottari timing. The supplied lord and dates describe the period; they do not promise events.
- GrahaVedic term
- A planetary factor in Vedic astrology. The supplied chart includes planets and the lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu; each is read in its own Vedic role.
- RashiVedic term
- A zodiac sign in Vedic astrology. This app supplies sidereal signs using the Lahiri offset, so they can differ from the Western signs in the same reading.
- Moon signCross-system
- The zodiac sign containing the Moon in the supplied chart. Western uses the tropical zodiac here; Vedic uses the sidereal zodiac, so the signs can differ.
- Applying aspectWestern term
- At a calculated instant, an aspect’s angle is moving closer to exact. This app reports the supplied applying status; a range’s exact events are a different calculation.
- Separating aspectWestern term
- At a calculated instant, an aspect’s angle is moving away from exact. This describes motion at that instant, not the whole forecast period.
- Exact aspectWestern term
- An aspect reaching its precise angle, such as 90° for a square. In a range reading, use the calculated exact event time rather than assuming a tight orb is exact.
- DomicileWestern term
- The planet is in a sign it rules — at home, acting cleanly and on its own terms.
- DetrimentWestern term
- Opposite its home sign — the planet works against the grain and has to try harder.
- FallWestern term
- Opposite its exaltation — a traditionally challenging placement for the planet's expression. Other chart conditions still matter.
- ProfileHuman Design
- Two lines, 1–6, from your conscious and design Sun — your role and how you learn.
- LineHuman Design
- One of six subdivisions of a Human Design gate. The first profile line comes from the conscious Sun; the second comes from the design Sun.
- StrategyHuman Design
- The way your type is designed to make decisions and meet life.
- ChannelHuman Design
- Two gates joined across two centers — a fixed life force that defines both centers.
- DefinitionHuman Design
- How your defined centers connect — single, split, triple split, quadruple split, or none.
- Conscious sideHuman Design consciousHuman Design
- The conscious side — planets at your birth moment; who you know yourself to be.
- Unconscious sideHuman Design unconsciousHuman Design
- The unconscious side — planets when the Sun was 88 degrees of solar arc before its birth position; the body's design, what others see.
- Personality numberNumerology
- How people first read you — the outer layer.
- Major ArcanaTarot
- The 22 Tarot cards associated with broad themes and turning points. The engine draws from the full 78-card deck using a real random selection.
- Minor ArcanaTarot
- The 56 Tarot cards in four suits, read as the situations and textures of everyday life.
- Court cardsTarot
- The Page, Knight, Queen and King in each Tarot suit. They can be read as roles or approaches; drawing one does not identify a particular person.
- Reversed cardTarot
- A Tarot card drawn in reversed orientation when reversals are enabled. The orientation is supplied by the draw; its interpretation depends on the card and question.
- WandsTarot
- Tarot’s suit associated with initiative, creativity and drive. It has ten numbered cards and four court cards.
- CupsTarot
- Tarot’s suit associated with feelings, connection and relationships. It has ten numbered cards and four court cards.
- SwordsTarot
- Tarot’s suit associated with thinking, communication and conflict. It has ten numbered cards and four court cards.
- PentaclesTarot
- Tarot’s suit associated with material life, work and resources. It has ten numbered cards and four court cards.
- SignCross-system
- One of twelve 30° slices of the zodiac a body sits in (Aries through Pisces).Western uses tropical signs (pinned to the seasons); Vedic uses sidereal (pinned to the stars) — which is why your Vedic Sun can land a sign earlier. Calculated, not interpreted.
- HouseCross-system
- One of twelve life-domains laid over the chart — self, money, home, career, and so on.Where the houses begin depends on the house system AND your exact birth time. No birth time, no houses — the Engine withholds them rather than guess.
- AscendantRising signCross-system
- The zodiac degree climbing over the eastern horizon at your birth moment — the start of the 1st house.Moves about 1° every 4 minutes, so it needs an exact birth time. This is the first thing that vanishes when the time is unknown.
- AspectWestern term
- An angular relationship between two bodies — how many degrees apart they are, and whether that angle is considered meaningful.The classic angles: 0, 60, 90, 120, 180. Vedic aspects work by whole signs and different rules — this is a Western term.
- ConjunctionWestern term
- Two bodies at roughly the same degree (0° apart). They blend and amplify each other — for better or worse.
- SquareWestern term
- Two bodies about 90° apart. Friction — the productive kind of problem that makes you do something.
- TrineWestern term
- Two bodies about 120° apart. Ease and flow — talent that comes cheap, sometimes too cheap to bother using.
- OppositionWestern term
- Two bodies about 180° apart. A tug-of-war across the chart; you meet the theme through other people.
- OrbWestern term
- How far from exact an aspect can be and still count. A square with a 2° orb means 88°–92°.Tighter orb = stronger aspect. The Engine reports the exact degree; the orb is where interpretation begins.
- TransitCross-system
- Where a planet is in the sky right now (or on a date you choose) versus where it sat at your birth. The engine of timing.Calculated for the real apparent positions — no birth time needed for the transiting planets themselves, though houses still need your natal time.
- StelliumWestern term
- Three or more bodies clustered in one sign or house — a concentration of weight in that part of the chart.
- RetrogradeCross-system
- When a planet appears to move backwards from Earth's vantage point.It's an optical effect of orbits, not a planet actually reversing. The Engine computes the true apparent motion — nothing mystical in the math.
- NodeLunar nodes (North & South)Cross-system
- The two points where the Moon's orbit crosses the Sun's path — always exactly opposite each other.Calculated points, not bodies. Western and Vedic both use them but read them differently.
- ElementWestern term
- Fire, Earth, Air, Water — the four temperaments the signs sort into. Roughly, Fire drives, Earth builds, Air thinks, Water feels.The Chinese five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) are a different set that happen to share the name.
- ModalityQualityWestern term
- Cardinal, Fixed, or Mutable — whether a sign starts things, holds them steady, or adapts.
- SectWestern term
- Whether you were born in daytime or nighttime hours, which shifts how some planets are weighed.An ancient distinction the Engine reads straight from your birth time.
- MidheavenMCWestern term
- The highest point of the chart — public life, career, reputation, what you're known for.Needs an exact birth time, like the Ascendant.
- ProfectionWestern term
- A yearly timing method: each birthday hands the year to the next house, spotlighting a new theme.Calculated — it's how a given year gets its subject.
- Solar returnWestern term
- The chart cast for the exact moment the Sun returns to its birth position each year — a 'chart of your year.'
- NakshatraVedic term
- One of 27 lunar mansions the Moon moves through — older than the twelve signs, and central to Vedic meaning and timing.
- DashaVedic term
- A planetary period, sometimes years long, that colors a whole chapter of life. Vedic's signature timing engine.
- Day MasterBaZi term
- The day-pillar stem that stands for you — the reference point every other pillar is read against.
- Luck PillarBaZi term
- A ten-year elemental season layered over the birth chart — the weather that moves through a life.
- PalaceZi Wei term
- One of twelve life-domains — career, wealth, marriage, health, and the rest — that the stars get distributed across.
- TypeHuman Design
- One of four (Generator, Projector, Manifestor, Reflector) — the top-level label for how your energy is designed to work.
- Gate / ChannelHuman Design
- The I-Ching-numbered points (gates) and the wires between them (channels) that define your body-graph.
- Life Path numberNumerology
- The single digit distilled from your birth date — numerology's headline number.
- ArcanaTarot
- The two halves of the tarot deck: 22 Major (the big themes) and 56 Minor (the daily texture).
- Chart rulerWestern term
- The planet that rules your rising sign — the planet the whole chart 'reports to'. Where it sits says where your life's energy goes.
- DispositorWestern term
- The planet that rules the sign another planet sits in. Follow the chain and it ends at the final dispositor — the chart's power grid.
- DignityCross-system
- Sign dignity describes how a sign supports or challenges a planet's expression. It contributes to assessing the planet; it is not a total strength score. Western and Vedic use different sets of classifications.Use the classification supplied with the chart. An absent label does not establish a neutral placement.
- CuspWestern term
- The starting line of a house — the degree where one house ends and the next begins. The Ascendant is the cusp of the 1st house.
- SextileWestern term
- Two bodies about 60° apart. An easy, cooperative angle — opportunity that still needs a push.
- ChironWestern term
- A small body between Saturn and Uranus, read as the wound that becomes a skill — where you hurt, and where you help others with the same thing.
- LilithBlack Moon LilithWestern term
- The Moon's far point from Earth (a calculated point, not a body) — the raw, refused, unapologetic part of you.Three calculations exist (mean, osculating, interpolated); they can sit a few degrees apart. All three are in the data table.
- Part of FortuneWestern term
- A point combining Sun, Moon and Ascendant — a spot of natural ease and luck in the chart.
- VertexWestern term
- A calculated point on the western side of the chart, read as fated encounters — people and events that arrive without being chosen.
- DegreeCross-system
- Position within a sign, 0° to 29°. 'Late Pisces' means the high twenties; the exact degree lives in the data table.
- AyanamsaVedic term
- The offset between the seasonal (tropical) zodiac and the star-fixed (sidereal) one — about 24° today. It's why your Vedic signs sit earlier than your Western ones.The Engine uses Lahiri, the most common ayanamsa. Calculated.
- LagnaVedic rising signVedic term
- The sign rising in the east at birth, in the sidereal zodiac — the Vedic Ascendant, and the anchor the Vedic houses are counted from.
- PadaVedic term
- A quarter of a nakshatra (3°20'). Each nakshatra has four; the pada fine-tunes its flavour.
- ExaltedExaltation · UchchaCross-system
- A traditionally supportive placement for the planet's expression. Other chart conditions still shape how it operates.
- DebilitatedNeecha (Vedic)Cross-system
- A traditionally challenging placement for the planet's expression. This alone does not determine its overall strength or results.
- Own SignSwakshetra (Vedic)Vedic term
- The planet occupies a sign it rules — at home, expressing its own nature.
- MoolatrikonaVedicVedic term
- A designated part of a sign where the planet is traditionally well placed to carry out its core function.
- Friendly SignNatural friendship (Vedic)Vedic term
- The sign's ruler is a natural friend of this planet — a supportive host in the tradition's relationship scheme.
- Neutral SignNatural relationship (Vedic)Vedic term
- The sign's ruler is neither a natural friend nor a natural enemy of this planet. This describes their relationship, not the planet's total strength.
- Enemy SignNatural enmity (Vedic)Vedic term
- The sign's ruler is a natural enemy of this planet — a less accommodating host in the tradition's relationship scheme.
- RahuNorth Node (Vedic)Vedic term
- The Moon's north node in Vedic astrology — hunger, obsession, the worldly thing you're chasing this lifetime.
- KetuSouth Node (Vedic)Vedic term
- The Moon's south node in Vedic astrology — detachment, past mastery, what you're built to let go of.
- SiderealCross-system
- Measured against the fixed stars. The Vedic zodiac is sidereal; the Western zodiac is tropical (measured from the spring equinox). Same sky, two starting lines.
- Vimshottari dashaDashaVedic term
- The 120-year cycle of planetary periods, started by your Moon's nakshatra. Whichever planet's period you're in colours the years.
- Heavenly StemBaZi term
- The top character of a BaZi pillar — one of ten: five elements, each yin or yang. Your day stem is your Day Master.
- Earthly BranchBaZi term
- The bottom character of a BaZi pillar — one of twelve, each tied to a zodiac animal, a season and a hidden element.
- PillarFour PillarsBaZi term
- One of the four stem-over-branch pairs your birth moment becomes: year, month, day, hour. Together, your BaZi chart.
- RootedBaZi term
- A Day Master with its own element hiding in the branches — it has backup, so it's strong rather than fragile.
- Ten GodsOfficer · Output · Wealth · Resource · CompanionBaZi term
- BaZi's names for how each other element relates to your Day Master: what controls you (Officer), what you produce (Output), what you control (Wealth), what feeds you (Resource), what matches you (Companion).
- Da YunLuck pillar · Luck cycleBaZi term
- Ten-year chapters layered over the birth chart. The direction (forward or reverse) is set by your gender and the year stem's polarity.
- True solar timeBaZi term
- Your clock time corrected to where the Sun actually was at your birthplace. BaZi's hour pillar is built from this, not from the clock.
- Soul Palace命宮 · Life PalaceZi Wei term
- Zi Wei's anchor palace — your core self and life direction. Every other palace is counted from it.
- Body Palace身宮Zi Wei term
- Where your Soul Palace's themes get lived out in the world. It always shares a palace with one of the other eleven, and that palace becomes a second centre of gravity.
- Major starZi Wei term
- One of the fourteen principal stars in Zi Wei — the main actors, each with a fixed character and a brightness rating in the palace it lands in.
- Minor starZi Wei term
- A supporting star that colours a palace — helpers, disruptors, wealth and movement markers.
- BrightnessZi Wei term
- Zi Wei's seven-level strength rating for a major star in a palace, from 'temple' (full strength) to 'trapped' (weakest).
- Defined centerHuman Design
- Centers connected by complete channels, traditionally interpreted in Human Design as steadier patterns. Consistency does not establish correctness.
- Open centerUndefined centerHuman Design
- Undefined centers: no complete defining channel. They can still have active gates. Only an undefined center with no active gates is completely open. Traditionally interpreted as more variable and responsive to context.
- SacralHuman Design
- Life-force energy, work and bodily response within Human Design.If defined: Human Design traditionally reads a defined Sacral as a steadier capacity for response and engagement. This does not guarantee unlimited energy or a correct decision-making signal. If open: Human Design traditionally reads an open Sacral as variable in sustained engagement. Experiment with pacing and rest according to your actual capacity.
- AjnaHuman Design
- Concepts, opinions and making sense of information.If defined: Human Design traditionally reads a defined Ajna as a steadier way of conceptualizing. Consistency leaves room to reconsider an opinion. If open: Human Design traditionally reads an open Ajna as flexible in how it conceptualizes. Pressure to sound certain is a possibility to examine.
- Solar PlexusHuman Design
- Emotional experience, feeling and mood.If defined: Human Design traditionally reads a defined Solar Plexus as a recurring emotional wave and assigns Emotional authority. Feelings remain fallible cues to consider over time. If open: Human Design traditionally reads an open Solar Plexus as more responsive to the emotional atmosphere. Consider whether this describes an experience you recognize.
- Split DefinitionHuman Design
- Defined centers form two disconnected groups. Listed bridge gates are gates absent from this person's active gates: possible additional activations that could join those groups through additional complete channels. The split describes channel connections in a chart, not an incomplete person or a need for another person to feel whole.
- Bridge gateHuman Design
- Gates missing from this person's active gates that could connect their disconnected groups of defined centers through additional complete channels. They are not gates the person carries: another person or a separately calculated activation could supply them. Do not confuse them with the person's own channel endpoints or hanging gates. An empty bridge list makes no claim about active gates in open centers or about personal relationships.
- Hanging gateHuman Design
- An active gate whose channel partner is inactive — half a channel. It can sit in either a defined or an open center.
- Incarnation crossHuman Design
- Your life's overarching theme, spelled by the four Sun and Earth gates (birth and design). Right Angle = personal, Left Angle = through others, Juxtaposition = fixed.
- Manifesting GeneratorHuman Design
- A Generator with a motor to the Throat — fast, multi-track, skips steps. Strategy: respond first, then inform people before you move.
- GeneratorHuman Design
- The most common type — built to respond, not initiate; sustainable energy for what genuinely lights you up.
- ProjectorHuman Design
- Built to guide, not to do — sees others clearly, runs on borrowed energy. Strategy: wait for the invitation.
- ManifestorHuman Design
- Built to initiate — starts things and leaves. Strategy: inform people before you act so they don't resist it.
- ReflectorHuman Design
- All nine centers open — mirrors the people and places around them. Strategy: wait a full lunar cycle to decide.
- PersonalityPersonality side (Human Design)Cross-system
- In Human Design, the conscious side — the planets at your birth moment; who you know yourself to be. (In numerology, the number from your name's consonants — how people first read you.)
- Design sideHuman Design
- In Human Design, the unconscious side — the planets about 88 days before birth; the body's design, what others see in you.
- Destiny numberExpression numberNumerology
- From all the letters of your full name — what you're built to do and express.
- Soul UrgeHeart's DesireNumerology
- From the vowels of your name — what you want underneath.
- Personal YearNumerology
- This year's number in numerology's 1–9 cycle, from your birth month and day plus the current year — the weather of the year.
- Karmic debtNumerology
- A traditional numerology label for 13, 14, 16 or 19 before reduction, often used as a theme for reflection. Its presence or absence does not establish wrongdoing, moral worth or a debt to repay.
- Challenge numberNumerology
- Four numbers from your birth date, one per life stage — the lesson each phase asks you to work on. 0 means no specific challenge.
- Master number11 · 22 · 33Numerology
- A number kept whole instead of reduced to a single digit — a heightened 2, 4 or 6 with more voltage and more strain.
- ConvergenceCross-system
- The reading's synthesis of recurring symbolic themes, differences and unresolved tensions across the selected systems.Interpreted from the supplied chart data. Systems can share inputs or assumptions; recurrence does not multiply evidence or establish personal truth. Disagreement and uncertainty remain part of the reading.